Palestinian Authority

The PA told UNESCO that the Dead Sea Scrolls are part of THEIR heritage!By: Jewish Press News BriefsPublished: November 6th, 2016

A worker of the Israel Antiquities Authority sews fragments of the Dead Sea scrolls, in a preservation laboratory at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Photo Credit: Flash 90

Don’t fall off your seats on this one.

Following their success in erasing the Jewish historical connection to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount at UNESCO, the Palestinian Authority has decided to ramp it up a bit, according to a report on IBA’s Reshet Bet.

“This is just another example of their provocation and chutzpa in attempting to rewrite history. In any case, just like the Temple Mount and Kotel, the Dead Sea Scrolls will stay in our hands, while the Palestinians will be left with their hidden dreams.”

Sharma-Cohen used the word “Ganuz” in Hebrew, playing on the Hebrew name for the Dead Sea Scrolls “HaMegilot HaGenuzot” – The Hidden Scrolls.

The most well-known texts among the Dead Sea Scrolls are the ancient religious writings found in eleven caves near the site of Qumran… [in the eastern Judean desert]

Scroll dates range from the third century BCE (mid–Second Temple period) to the first century of the Common Era, before the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. While Hebrew is the most frequently used language in the Scrolls, about 15% were written in Aramaic and several in Greek. The Scrolls’ materials are made up mainly of parchment, although some are papyrus, and the text of one Scroll is engraved on copper.

About 230 manuscripts are referred to as “biblical Scrolls”. These are copies of works that are now part of the Hebrew Bible.

We have no doubt that UNESCO will fully support the PA’s historical revisionism.

Marking 100 years since the 1917 document, PA seeks to ‘remind the world to face its historic responsibility’ for the Jewish ‘colonialist project’

The Palestinian Authority has announced a year-long campaign to commemorate 100 years since the “crime” of the Balfour Declaration, official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported Monday.

Activities and events will take place worldwide, will be launched on November 2 and end on November 2, 2017 — the 100-year mark since British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour announced his government’s intention to establish “a national home for the Jewish people” in the Land of Israel.

Signed by Balfour in 1917, the declaration was seen as giving the Zionist movement official recognition and backing on the part of a major power, on the eve of the British conquest of the then-Ottoman territory of Palestine.

Calling the declaration a “colonialist project,” Taysir Khalid, a member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said the effort was intended “to remind the world and particularly Britain that they should face their historic responsibility and to atone for the big crime Britain had committed against the Palestinian people.”

In July the PA said it was preparing a lawsuit against the British government over the 1917 document that paved the way for the creation of the State of Israel.

PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki said at the time that London was responsible for all “Israeli crimes” committed since the end of the British mandate in 1948.

The decision, al-Malki said, “gave people who don’t belong there something that wasn’t theirs.”

Last month at the UN, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attacked the PA over the plan, characterizing it as another example of Palestinians refusing to accept Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state.

“That’s almost 100 years ago,” said Netanyahu. “Talk about being stuck in the past! The Palestinians might as well sue Iran for the Cyrus declarations, or file a class action suit against Abraham, for buying land in Hebron,” he added, referencing a Persian edict allowing Jews to return to Judea in 539 BCE and the Biblical patriarch.

Reiterating that he remains “committed to a vision of peace based on two states for two people,” Netanyahu said that “One thing I would never negotiate is our right to the one, only Jewish state,” Netanyahu said.

“This conflict is not about the settlements, it never was,” he said. “It’s always been about the existence of a Jewish state.

“If the Palestinians had said yes to a Jewish state in 1947 there would have been no war… and when they do finally say yes to a Jewish state we will be able to end this conflict once and for all,” Netanyahu said.

The Obama administration is manufacturing a crisis with Israel in anticipation of a post-election diplomatic push targeting the Jewish state, and this past week launched a series of broadsides criticizing the Israelis through the media and in press briefings, according to congressional sources and Jewish-American officials who spoke to THE WEEKLY STANDARD.

The White House and State Department lashed out after the Israelis advanced plans to build in areas the administration considers to be off-limits to new Israeli construction, using language that reporters noted is usually reserved for terror attacks.

Asked by journalists why the administration stated that it “strongly condemn[ed]” Israel’s plans to advance construction, a phrase ordinarily used “to denounce acts of terrorism,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest replied that the construction “provoke[s] strong feelings in the administration.” In that briefing, Earnest also suggested that Israel betrayed commitments to Washington, while a State Department official separately said Israel would be “cementing… perpetual occupation” if it built the houses.

The latest controversy revolves around construction that the Israelis say is within the already existing Israeli neighborhood Shilo, but that the administration says constitutes a new settlement. Congressional officials who spoke to TWS said that the administration’s condemnation is a pretext for eroding relations with Israel and potentially for setting up a broader diplomatic offensive.

“They’re launching this weird, aggressive campaign that simply will have no positive outcome,” a senior congressional source told TWS. “It’s not an accident that all of this has been going on as Congress goes into recess [and] as attention is diverted by the election.”

The source said that while the administration has engaged in similar behavior against Israel in the past, this case appeared “far more coordinated and aggressive.”

“The president is in the market for a legacy,” the source continued. “I’m very concerned that he’s going to do something that he considers to be dramatic, just to get his name on the process.”

Another congressional source told TWS that President Obama has been “waiting for an opening” to condemn Israel.

“200 housing units in an existing community that did not expand the boundaries at all? That’s not something that should even make the news in Israel, let alone the U.S.”

The source suggested that the administration had also coordinated with mediaoutlets this past week to release material criticizing Israel.

“The fact that they seem so prepared for this, the fact that it comes at the exact same time as this crap from the New York Times and Vox,” the source continued. “I [think] they were waiting for something.”

A senior political official at a nonpartisan national Jewish organization told TWS that the White House seems to be setting up the Israelis to take the blame for a fabricated crisis, which could then be used to justify diplomatic action against Israel.

“It’s no secret that the Obama administration is angling to do something against the Israelis after the election, when it will face no political pressure,” said the source. “That’s exactly why lawmakers from both parties have been penning letters and resolutions calling for the President not to throw our Israeli allies under the bus at the United Nations or target them domestically.”

“The administration wants to be able to say the Israelis forced them to act, which is why they’ve launched these efforts to blame Tel Aviv for tensions.”

Lawmakers and sources close to congressional leadership told TWS they viewed the administration’s efforts as unproductive and shameful.

Florida senator Marco Rubio criticized Obama for spending “his final few months” damaging U.S.-Israel relations instead of “finally standing up to Vladimir Putin, Bashar al-Assad and the mullahs in Tehran.”

A Republican leadership aide said that the administration’s attempts to sow discord with Israel were a distraction from “the real barriers to peace.”

“The administration is using this to distract from…the Palestinians’ refusal to enter direct negotiations in good faith and without preconditions,” the aide said. “This unnecessary outrage does nothing to bring the parties together. On the contrary, it pushes them further apart.”

This is not the first time the Obama administration has faced criticism for deliberately generating diplomatic crises with Israel.

During the president’s first few months in office, commentators noted that the administration was disproportionately “tough on Israel:” while serving up an “absolutist demand” to Israel for a freeze on settlements, officials allowed Palestinian leaders to “sit back” and wait for Israel to accept its new reality.

“[Obama] has revived a long-dormant Palestinian fantasy: that the United States will simply force Israel to make critical concessions, whether or not its democratic government agrees, while Arabs passively watch and applaud,” the Washington Post‘s Jackson Diehl wrote at the time.

Less than a year later, the administration fiercely reprimanded Israel after a government official announced plans to build homes in east Jerusalem. One administration official called the decision an “affront” and an “insult,” while Vice President Joe Biden “condemn[ed]” the announcement, a phrase that reports noted “is rarely used in diplomatic terms when criticizing the behavior of close allies.”

In what is likely an Israeli diplomatic achievement, UNESCO withdrew at the last moment another draft resolution that ignores the historical and archaeological evidence proving the connection the Jewish People have to the Temple Mount.

Minutes before the vote was slated to take place, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) withdrew a draft resolution on Jerusalem that ignores the Jewish People’s ties to the Temple Mount.

The resolution, which was due to be voted on by the 21-members of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee that is now meeting in Istanbul, was apparently withdrawn because its sponsors, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority (PA), realized they failed to garner the votes needed for a majority.

The motion asked that the committee maintain the Old City’s status as an endangered site. It has been a World Heritage site since 1981. It recognized supposed Muslim and Arab historical ties to Israel’s capital, while denying the Jewish ones

Part of the resolution attacks Israeli practices in the Old City, including its actions on the Temple Mount.

Foreign Ministry Director-General Dore Gold on Monday sent a letter to UNESCO in which he accused the organization of being totally “disconnected from reality.”

“As the historical heritage sites of this area are being systematically destroyed by jihadist forces, such as the Islamic State, in Syria and Iraq, UNESCO’s adoption of utterly false allegations about Israeli archaeological practices is misplaced and hypocritical, at best,” Gold wrote.

Gold approached 16 member states and requested that they vote against the motion. His efforts have apparently been fruitful, and Jerusalem views this development as a diplomatic victory.

Its is unclear if and when the resolution will be resubmitted.

In April, UNESCO passed an anti-Israel resolution denying the historical and archaeological evidence proving a long-existing Jewish presence on the Temple Mount.

With 33 votes in favor, six against, and 17 abstentions, the resolution solely referred to the Temple Mount areas by their Muslim names—Al-Aqsa Mosque/Haram al-Sharif—with the exception of two references to the Western Wall Plaza in parentheses. The resolution also referred to the Western Wall plaza by its Muslim name, Al-Buraq Plaza.

France and Brazil, which voted in favor of the resolution, later expressed regret.